Crypt RotEmbryonic Devils

Matt Izzi is a busy guy. In addition to assuming vocal duties for the most recent incarnation of Homewrecker, and anchoring one of 2016's bloodiest death metal records for Scorched, he has been busy at work assembling Crypt Rot, a powerhouse collective of Ohio metal musicians and former Homewreckers that have graced Southern Lord records with a blistering debut. It's a grimy affair that covers a lot of ground in a quick 20 minutes or so.

With three vocalists and one of the most agile drummers in the game, Crypt Rot are able to whip up a claustrophobic and chaotic whirlwind of sound that nods to powerful, if obvious, influences like Carnage or Dismember. Vocals are dusted with a gloomy reverb that careens off Izzi's firm double-kick blasts and Ryan Sposito's gnarled guitar licks. Anguished shrieks and deep-throated growls jockey with each other like they're emanating from the ghosts of an abandoned mausoleum. Keyboard player Allie Dioneff provides some eerie choral vocals that reinforce the catacomb settings on tracks like "Chapters of Torment" and the record's sprawling centrepiece "Pit of Morbidity."

Considering the brief run time, Crypt Rot do a good job of filling out the album's atmosphere with haunting segues between tracks that feature guttural feeding noises and heavy, rattling chains. The record ends with the bleak and cannibalistic "Internal Organ Feast," which reprises all the band's tricks with an all-too-brief gang vocal breakdown, and a beautiful guitar coda that walks you back out into daylight, but leaves you with a morbid desire to return to the crypt.
(Southern Lord)